Jim Saxton: “I wanted to speak to my colleagues about what I think is a very important issue. It involves the International Monetary…”

“I wanted to speak to my colleagues about what I think is a very important issue. It involves the International Monetary Fund. That may be a dry issue to some. But when we consider that the International Monetary Fund today has available to it $36 billion of American money, of U.S. dollars, it is a rather sobering thought. We have lots of needs for money in our country, and we have seen fit in a benevolent way to help others around the world with various economic situations to the tune of $36 billion. But what got my attention, and I hope has gotten Members' attention, is that the International Monetary Fund through Secretary Rubin, Secretary of the Treasury, has requested $18 billion more. The signs are that that is not all they want. If we put that in perspective over the last several decades, we have contributed $36 billion to the IMF, and this year they are asking for $18 billion more. That is a 50 percent increase in what we have provided. I guess the question is, is there even more to come? The issue of how much we contribute to the IMF is important. But there are other issues that are just as important, and that is questions involving how the money is used. I am not saying the money is used incorrectly, because it may very well be, but the fact of the matter is we do not know and we cannot find out, because the IMF operates in a cloak of secrecy.”